Ecclesiastes 5:8

Government Corruption

5:8 If you see the extortion ¹  of the poor,

or the perversion ²  of justice and fairness in the government, ³ 

do not be astonished by the matter.

For the high official is watched by a higher official, ⁴ 

and there are higher ones over them! ⁵ 

Ecclesiastes 5:13

Materialism Thwarts Enjoyment of Life

5:13 Here is ⁶  a misfortune ⁷  on earth ⁸  that I have seen:

Wealth hoarded by its owner to his own misery.

Exodus 14:5-9

14:5 When it was reported ⁹  to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, ¹⁰  the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and the king and his servants said, ¹¹  “What in the world have we done? ¹²  For we have released the people of Israel ¹³  from serving us!” 14:6 Then he prepared ¹⁴  his chariots and took his army ¹⁵  with him. 14:7 He took six hundred select ¹⁶  chariots, and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, ¹⁷  and officers ¹⁸  on all of them.

14:8 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he chased after the Israelites. Now the Israelites were going out defiantly. ¹⁹  14:9 The Egyptians chased after them, and all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-Zephon.

Exodus 14:28

14:28 The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea ²⁰  – not so much as one of them survived! ²¹ 

Deuteronomy 2:30

2:30 But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass near him because the Lord our ²²  God had made him obstinate ²³  and stubborn ²⁴  so that he might deliver him over to you ²⁵  this very day.

Deuteronomy 2:2

2:2 At this point the Lord said to me,

Deuteronomy 14:10-12

14:10 but whatever does not have fins and scales you may not eat; it is ritually impure to you. 14:11 All ritually clean birds you may eat. 14:12 These are the ones you may not eat: the eagle, ²⁶  the vulture, ²⁷  the black vulture, ²⁸ 

Deuteronomy 25:7

25:7 But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she ²⁹  must go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!”

[5:8]  ¹ tn Alternately, “oppression.” The term עֹשֶׁק (’osheq) has a basic two-fold range of meaning: (1) “oppression; brutality” (e.g., Isa 54:14); and (2) “extortion” (e.g., Ps 62:11); see HALOT 897 s.v. עֹשֶׁק; BDB 799 s.v. עֹשֶׁק. The LXX understands the term as “oppression,” as the translation συκοφαντίαν (sukofantian, “oppression”) indicates. Likewise, HALOT 897 s.v. עֹשֶׁק 1 classifies this usage as “oppression” against the poor. However, the context of 5:8-9 [7-8 HT] focuses on corrupt government officials robbing people of the fruit of their labor through extortion and the perversion of justice.

[5:8]  ² tn Heb “robbery.” The noun גֵזֶל (gezel, “robbery”) refers to the wrestling away of righteousness or the perversion of justice (HALOT 186 s.v. גֵּזֶל). The related forms of the root גזל mean “to rob; to loot” (HALOT 186 s.v. גֵּזֶל). The term “robbery” is used as a figure for the perversion of justice (hypocatastasis): just as a thief robs his victims through physical violence, so corrupt government officials “rob” the poor through the perversion of justice.

[5:8]  ³ tn Heb “in the province.”

[5:8]  ⁴ tn The word “official” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:8]  ⁵ sn And there are higher ones over them! This may describe a corrupt system of government in which each level of hierarchy exploits its subordinates, all the way down to the peasants: “Set in authority over the people is an official who enriches himself at their expense; he is watched by a more authoritative governor who also has his share of the spoils; and above them are other officers of the State who likewise have to be satisfied”; see A. Cohen, The Five Megilloth (SoBB), 141.

[5:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “there is.” The term יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is”) is often used in aphorisms to assert the existence of a particular situation that occurs sometimes. It may indicate that the situation is not the rule but that it does occur on occasion, and may be nuanced “sometimes” (e.g., Prov 11:24; 13:7, 23; 14:12; 16:25; 18:24; 20:15; Eccl 2:21; 4:8; 5:12; 6:1; 7:15 [2x]; 8:14 [3x]).

[5:13]  ⁷ tn The noun רָעָה (ra’ah, “evil”) probably means “misfortune” (HALOT 1263 s.v. רָעָה 4) or “injustice, wrong” (HALOT 1262 s.v. רָעָה 2.b). The phrase רָעָה רַבָּה (ra’ah rabbah) connotes “grave injustice” or “great misfortune” (Eccl 2:17; 5:12, 15; 6:1; 10:5).

[5:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[14:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and it was told.” The present translation uses “reported,” since this involves information given to a superior.

[14:5]  ¹⁰ tn The verb must be given a past perfect translation because the fleeing occurred before the telling.

[14:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they said.” The referent (the king and his servants) is supplied for clarity.

[14:5]  ¹² tn The question literally is “What is this we have done?” The demonstrative pronoun is used as an enclitic particle for emphasis (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[14:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “released Israel.” By metonymy the name of the nation is used collectively for the people who constitute it (the Israelites).

[14:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “bound.”

[14:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his people.”

[14:7]  ¹⁶ tn The passive participle of the verb “to choose” means that these were “choice” or superb chariots.

[14:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “every chariot of Egypt.” After the mention of the best chariots, the meaning of this description is “all the other chariots.”

[14:7]  ¹⁸ tn The word שָׁלִשִׁם (shalishim) means “officers” or some special kind of military personnel. At one time it was taken to mean a “three man chariot,” but the pictures of Egyptian chariots only show two in a chariot. It may mean officers near the king, “men of the third rank” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 394). So the chariots and the crew represented the elite. See the old view by A. E. Cowley that linked it to a Hittite word (“A Hittite Word in Hebrew,” JTS 21 [1920]: 326), and the more recent work by P. C. Craigie connecting it to Egyptian “commander” (“An Egyptian Expression in the Song of the Sea: Exodus XV.4,” VT 20 [1970]: 85).

[14:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “with a high hand”; the expression means “defiantly,” “boldly,” or “with confidence.” The phrase is usually used for arrogant sin and pride, the defiant fist, as it were. The image of the high hand can also mean the hand raised to deliver a blow (Job 38:15). So the narrative here builds tension between these two resolute forces.

[14:28]  ²⁰ tn Heb “that was coming after them into the sea.” The referent of “them” (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:28]  ²¹ tn Heb “not was left among them as much as one.”

[2:30]  ²² tc The translation follows the LXX in reading the first person pronoun. The MT, followed by many English versions, has a second person masculine singular pronoun, “your.”

[2:30]  ²³ tn Heb “hardened his spirit” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “made his spirit stubborn.”

[2:30]  ²⁴ tn Heb “made his heart obstinate” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “made his heart defiant.”

[2:30]  ²⁵ tn Heb “into your hand.”

[14:12]  ²⁶ tn NEB “the griffon-vulture.”

[14:12]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term פֶּרֶס (peres) describes a large vulture otherwise known as the ossifrage (cf. KJV). This largest of the vultures takes its name from its habit of dropping skeletal remains from a great height so as to break the bones apart.

[14:12]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew term עָזְנִיָּה (’ozniyyah) may describe the black vulture (so NIV) or it may refer to the osprey (so NAB, NRSV, NLT), an eagle-like bird subsisting mainly on fish.

[25:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “want to take his sister-in-law, then his sister in law.” In the second instance the pronoun (“she”) has been used in the translation to avoid redundancy.